


C is for Children

by thisismylovelyalias



Series: Consultant Connor [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Connor, Chris worries, Connor is great with kids, but its okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 05:29:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20615750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisismylovelyalias/pseuds/thisismylovelyalias
Summary: No matter how many times he had seen it, Chris always hated the sound of children sobbing over seeing something so gruesome.





	C is for Children

The Streets of Detroit | December 9, 2038 | 9:35 AM

No matter how many crime scenes he had visited, witnesses he had to handle, bodies he had to see, Officer Chris Miller always hated having to hear the cries of children subject to seeing the dead, possibly mutilated, bodies of their loved ones. Their wails and hiccuping sobs always hit him hard, especially once his son was born.

He always prayed that Damian would never have to go through the same thing.

Regardless, this instance was no different. Husband, intoxicated and under the influence of harmful levels of Red Ice, killed his wife and android, child saw the whole thing, and now Chris had Sean Jackson, a little boy who couldn’t be older than nine years old, held between his arms, bawling in the back of the squad car as Person drove them to the precinct.

“It’ll be okay,” Chris whispered to the child, awkwardly rubbing circles onto his back in an attempt to calm him. “We’ll find him.”

Sure, he desperately wanted his words to help, but Chris knew that whispering such things wouldn’t do much in terms of reassuring the child, especially seeing as how they had no idea where the perpetrator might be, but he didn’t really know what else he could say.

Which is probably why he couldn’t help but feel relieved as Person pulled into the precinct’s parking lot.

“Sean, will you come inside with me?” She asked when she opened up the rear door nearest the boy, hand outstretched and expression controlled.

Sean hesitated, but Person’s patience had no bounds, and eventually he took her hand and slowly slid out of the vehicle. As she led him towards the entrance, she glanced at Chris, who was jogging across the lot to catch up, and raised her pinky and thumb next to her ear, signalling to him that she was going to be the one to call the closest living relative.

Once they entered the building, Person strode off, leaving Sean with Chris once again. The child had stopped crying, entranced by his surrounding, but Chris knew that it wouldn’t be long until he was hit with the harsh reminder of why he was here in the first place.

He gently pushed Sean towards the front desk, where their android receptionist, whose name had previously been Emily and had dubbed herself Jen post-deviancy, sat typing away into the computer to her right.

Unlike quite a few people in the precinct, Chris was glad that other androids were back to working here. Sure, it was only because the nearly month long period where androids couldn’t work ended up causing various markets to collapse upon themselves, and sure, they were only allowed to go back to working at their original job sites, but damn it, Chris had gotten attached to the various androids that practically took up residence in the precinct and he was excited to see how they were post-deviancy.

“Jen, are either Connor or Hank still here?” He asked.

She nodded, LED making a single yellow rotation before mellowing back into blue as she spoke. “Lieutenant Anderson was called away to the Jackson residence, but Connor is still here. I already informed him that you and Sean are here, so he should be making his way here as we speak.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem! Have fun!”

Chris stopped in his tracks and Sean looked at her, confused, as his eyes welled up with tears once again.

“Wait, no—! I’m sorry, I mean good luck! No, um,” She squeaked, her behavior a large cry from the professionality she possessed seconds ago, putting up her hands as if to hide behind them as her synthetic cheeks flushed blue. “Sorry, I’m sorry, Sean! I hope it works out?”

Through some small miracle, Sean collected himself, opting to laugh instead at Jen’s panic-driven outburst, while Chris smiled and Jen blushed even further.

The two made their way into the bullpen, Chris directing Sean towards his desk, when Connor finally got to them.

“Officer Miller.” He greeted, politely nodding at the man.

“Hey Connor, this is Sean. He was the witness to the Jackson murder.” Chris informed him.

He could practically see Connor sifting through the information he had accumulated in his memory banks as his LED went yellow. “Hello Sean.” He said, kneeling in front of the child, “My name is Connor.”

Sean, in all his blunt, childish glory, fixed his gaze onto Connor’s LED. “You’re an android.” He stated.

“I am.”

“Dad says that androids are just machines, not people.”

“Well, I am as much of a person as you are, Sean. I experience the same things that you do, but I’m just made different.”

“Cool.”

Connor smiled, both his tone and expression soft as he asked the child to come with him to one of the interrogation rooms.

Chris followed them, but opted not to intrude on the interrogation. Instead, he stood in front of the one-way mirror. 

Typically, interrogation rooms were used for to maximize any discomfort and powerlessness a suspect might be feeling, but with children it was different. The rooms were instead used as a little safe room, where they could get away from the clusters of adults and instead have a proper conversation with a single individual.

Once Sean sat down, curling himself up as he lifted his legs atop the chair, Connor pulled the other chair to his side and took a seat next to him.

“Sean,” He said, “Can you tell me what happened at your house today?”

The child opened his speak and then promptly, well, broke down. Tremors wracked his frame, causing him to shake uncontrollably, as his grief and loss spilled out of him in loud, strong hiccuping sobs and seemingly unending tears.

Chris’s heart panged in sympathy for Sean, and this show of emotion was too much for him. Out of either politeness or inability to watch, Chris wasn’t sure, he turned his head to the side, eyes darting every which way as he tried to ignore the resonating waves of despair practically radiating off of him.

On the other hand, Connor looked lost, his eyes wide and expression one of shock. Knowing him, he probably expected this outcome, but it must have been drastically different than what he thought it might have been.

Hesitant, Chris went back to watching the scene play out before him as Connor slowly placed on hand upon the boy’s shoulder, the other reaching out to fully embrace him. While the movements had seemed stiff and unsure, Chris could tell just how gentle and genuine he was being, and was suddenly very glad it was Connor with his fancy, high-tech social integration programs—and child-like grasp of emotions—in there, and not him.

The second that Sean had been engulfed by Connor, he threw his own arms around the android, clinging to him as his hands scrambled to find purchase on the CyberLife jacket Connor wore.

Connor, bless his thirium pump, allowed him to do so without any reaction, save for the low, nearly imperceptible reassurances he began to whisper.

Chris wanted to look away once more. He felt as if he was intruding upon some intimate moment, yet, he also couldn’t look away from this, still quite rare, proof of deviancy from Connor.

Eventually, Sean quieted down, breaths coming in harsh gasps as he tried to once more bring the air back into his lungs. 

“My dad, he— he came into the house.” He began, clinging even tighter to Connor, as if he were his emotional tether, keeping his sense of anguish at bay. “He was mad. He— he was eating his red candy that mom and I can’t have, and then— and then he grabbed Frank.”

The android, Chris thought, the very one whose name he didn’t know yet had seen, sprawled on the carpeted floor, chest plate gone and thirium pump crushed, while whatever blue blood that had yet to evaporate stuck to the synthetic fibers, practically gluing them together.

“He took out his heart and— and—”

“You don’t have to say it.” Connor told him, nodding his understanding at the struggle Sean was going through. “You’re being very brave.”

Chris had to admit, Connor’s behavior now was a wonderful change from the whole “ _ Twenty-eight Stab Wounds _ ” interrogation.

“Do you have any idea where your father might have gone?” The android asked, still not having moved from his position hunched over the clinging child. “Any places he may have visited frequently or spoke of often?”

Sean violently shook his head. “No, no, no, no, no, no—”

Holding him tighter, Connor set his chin atop the boy’s head. “Thank you, Sean. You’ve been a great help.” He reassured him.

With some highly coincidental timing, Person appeared next to Chris.

“Aunt is here for Sean.” She said, jerking her thumb in the direction of the mousy young woman standing out in the bullpen.

“Right,” He replied, moving towards the interrogation room entrance. “Thanks.”

As he opened the door, he saw Sean scramble out of Connor’s grasp, eyes wide at, what to him, must have been a sudden intrusion.

“Hey, Sean. Your aunt is here to pick you up!” He recounted, attempting to insert as much pep as he could into his tone, but ultimately sounding a bit  _ too _ cheerful, considering the circumstances.

Sean looked at him, then back at Connor, who smiled at him reassuringly. “Go on.” He said just before Sean barrelled into him with a hug once more.

Without a word, he released Connor and ran out of the room to the still waiting Person.

“Did you know your social integration protocols worked with children, or was that all you?” Chris asked, trying to distract himself more than Connor from Sean.

“Officer Miller,” he said flatly as he reached for his coin and began to maneuver it across and between his knuckles, “My social integration protocols  _ are  _ a part of me, and Cyberlife had programmed me with highly advanced programs for both children and adults alike. Although, this may have been the first time I’ve had to interact with a child.”

“May?”

“Any trial runs and memories prior to my official activation are unclear.”

“Cool.”

Chris turned to once again exit the room, but then thought better of it as what might have been his most spectacular idea of the day arose in his mind.

“Hey, Connor? What do you think of babysitting?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! Come join us in the [DBH: New Era](https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm) server!!


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